Rocky Mountain Hero (To Love Again Book 3) by Kate Fargo Page B

she wanted to spin it.
    He pushed the antipasto plate in her direction and she scooped the last bit into her mouth just as the waiter arrived to retrieve the empty platter.
    Dinner was delicious, the veal mouth-watering and the risotto a feast suitable for a gourmand.
    “To new friends,” she raised her glass in Tray’s direction.
    “And new lovers.” He smiled and clinked his glass against hers.
    Isabel swirled the wine around in her glass, gazing over the top at Tray. He clearly had something to say, but she could sense an air of reluctance.
    She waited, surveying the other patrons in the restaurant, while fidgeting with the napkin in her lap and waiting on the waiter to bring coffee and dessert.
    A part of her was dying to hear what was causing him so much trouble, but a larger part still was hoping that he wouldn’t say it at all. Curiosity killed the cat, is what her mother used to say. Sometimes you were better off not knowing. Take Chet for example. For a long time, she’d been better off not knowing. But in the end, she knew it was better to walk through life with eyes open, than with eyes closed.
    “Looks like you have something on your mind,” she smiled, prompting him.
    Tray met her gaze and pushed his fingers through his hair. “I do. I’m just not sure how to say it.”
    “I find it’s helpful to be direct. Just say it. I’m a big girl.”
    “You keep telling me that, you’re a big girl. From where I sit, you’re all woman.”
    She blushed with delight. “Why thank you, kind sir.”
    “Here’s the thing Isabel,” he started, leaning forward. “It’s not working for me like this.”
    “What’s not working?”
    “Having the weekend that we had and now just walking away.”
    Walking away? They were having dinner, had just finished a mind-blowing love-making session. This was walking away? “Dinner? The session at the house? This doesn’t feel like walking away to me.”
    Tray’s face dropped and her heart went out to him. She reached across the table and placed her hand over his. “Just tell me what’s on your mind.”
    “It’s us. I want there to be an us. Not just a sexual liaison, not just a long one-night stand.”
    Isabel’s head raced in a hundred directions. An us? Ohmigawd. She wasn’t ready for an us . But there it was - this just confirmed her feeling that she should’ve cut it off at the end of the weekend. When he dropped her off on Monday, that should’ve been the end of it.
    What had she been thinking? It was only in a moment of weakness that she’d even begun to think of seeing him again. And then, like some built-in radar, he arrived at her door, right at the moment she’d decided she could see him again.
    “Look, this is my fault. When you came over tonight, I should have explained.”
    “Explained what?”
    “I am willing to see you again, but only for the sex.”
    Tray’s face registered surprise, then darkened with anger. “You call what we just shared ‘sex’? Are you kidding me?”
    “Tray, please understand…”
    “What we just shared… I can’t believe that you didn’t feel as much as I did. We went somewhere magical together. That wasn’t just sex.”
    “It’s like I told you before, it’s easy for people to mistake sexual feelings for something deeper.”
    He stared at her in disbelief. She might have slapped him across the face.
    “You can’t believe that, Isabel.”
    “I do. And when you’re more experienced-”
    “More experienced?”
    The anguish that crossed his face wrenched her heart. “That’s not what I meant. You know it isn’t. I meant… it doesn’t matter. It would never work between us. You’re so young.”
    “I’m not as young as you think.”
    “I think I’ve already I’ve figured that out. You know too much about the world. At first I thought you were mid-twenties. Now I know you’re older.”
    “How old?”
    “Twenty-eight, twenty-nine.”
    Tray locked her gaze and raised his